Integrated circuit chips are small sections of semiconductive material (such as silicon) upon which many active and/or passive electronic components have been formed. The manufacture of an integrated circuit chip includes steps of processing a semiconductor wafer to provide multiples of the desired chip, and then cutting the wafer into individual integrated circuit chips arranged in rows and columns.
Before the wafer is cut, it is adhesively attached to a flexible carrier to prevent the dispersal of the chips during the cutting process. A problem encountered in the prior art is how to efficiently remove the individual chips from the flexible carrier without damaging the chips. U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,606,035 to Gantley and 3,562,057 to Mc Alister et al. stretch the carrier, after which the individual chips are removed by tweezers or a vacuum probe. This method is not only time consuming and labor intensive, but the manual handling results in the damage of chips.
An object of the present invention is to provide an apparatus for removing segments of a wafer from a flexible carrier. Another object is to provide such an apparatus which can feed a number of inspectors.